1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pressure contact electrical connector which can be used to connect therewith plural kinds of electric wires having different diameters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pressure contact electrical connectors have become widely used, since connection of an electric wire with the terminal thereof can be made easily only by thrusting the electric wire into the slit of the terminal. However, because the width of the slit of such a connector is normally predetermined, it can be used only for electric wires having a diameter corresponding to the width of the slit. Therefore, it was required to provide many kinds of pressure contact electrical connectors adapted for use with the diameters of electric wires to be connected, thus posing a problem in that production and management become unavoidably complicated.
To solve the above-mentioned problem, a pressure contact electrical connector has been proposed in Japanese Laid-Open patent application No. SHO. 58-182269. The electrical connector disclosed therein has three slits of different widths formed therein so that three lengths of electric wires whose diameters correspond to the respective widths of the slits can be pressed into contact with the connector.
However, this conventional pressure contact electrical connector requires provision of a terminal whose length corresponds to the total length of the three pieces of the electric wires to connect one length of the electric wire therewith. Therefore, this electrical connector has been disadvantageous in that the size of the connector becomes inevitably large thus necessitating a large space for the installation thereof.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances in the prior art, and has for its object to provide a pressure contact electrical connector which enables plural kinds of electric wires having different diameters to be pressed into contact therewith and which requires less space for the installation thereof.